SAN FRANCISCO _ Jaime Garcia was the only obstacle standing between Matt Cain and another dominant performance at AT&T Park Friday night.
Garcia (2-3) handed Cain (3-3) his second home loss of the season by stifling the Giants (20-30) bats over 62/3 innings and driving in the decisive run in a 2-0 win by the visiting Atlanta Braves.
The Braves left hander broke a scoreless tie after manager Bruce Bochy elected to intentionally walk shortstop Dansby Swanson with two outs and a runner on second in the top of the seventh.
But instead of being a routine out, Garcia managed to squeak a ground ball past an outstretched Brandon Crawford into left, bringing in Tyler Flowers. Swanson also scored on the play after Brandon Belt's off-target throw from left bounced off Flowers left leg and trickled toward the Braves dugout. Belt was charged with a throwing error on the play.
Excluding Garcia's RBI single, Cain, who entered the contest with a 1.19 ERA in four starts at AT&T Park, put together another solid outing at China Basin, continuing the bipolar discrepancy between his home and road performances.
In his last start, Cain surrendered seven runs in 51/3 innings in St. Louis, raising his road ERA to 8.28. But Cain found his mark in pitcher-friendly confines of AT&T Park once again, surrendering just one earned run on seven hits in seven innings of work, the fifth-consecutive home start in which he's surrendered one or fewer earned runs.
Unfortunately for Cain, the lowest-scoring team in the National League continued to struggle at the plate against Garcia, who surrendered just four hits in his 62/3 innings on the hill.
The Giants best chance to break through came in the sixth when they loaded up the bases on singles from Denard Span and Eduardo Nunez and an intentional walk to Buster Posey. But the threat was easily defused when Justin Ruggiano dribbled a harmless grounder to third.
Crawford offered some promise in the seventh by reaching base with a leadoff walk, but then Nick Hundley, Christian Arroyo and Michael Morse were retried in succession.
_The Giants expect Madison Bumgarner to take a 'big step' during their six-game homestand, which kicked off Friday night.
Bochy said the Giants ace will likely throw for the first time since he sprained his left shoulder in a dirt biking accident last month before the team leaves town for Philadelphia on June 1.
But Bumgarner won't be throwing a full bullpen session from the mound. The plan is to have him play catch, tossing the ball around lightly on flat ground.
"Easy. Throw easy," Bochy said. "That's always a big step. I know it's a step he's looking forward to. I'm sure he's getting antsy and a little tired of doing a lot of rehab without (doing) what he loves doing, that's throw a baseball."
Bumgarner isn't expected to return to the Giants rotation until after the All-Star break.
_Bumgarner isn't the only former-Giants all star who will be taking a step to return to the lineup during the homestand.
According to Bochy, Hunter Pence will probably begin a rehab assignment in four or five days.
Pence has missed the Giants last 12 games with a strained left hamstring.
"He's coming along," Bochy said. "He's doing some running and those things. My guess is four or five days he'll start his rehab and we'll get him going."
_The Giants activated utility man Aaron Hill from the 10-day disabled list Friday, optioning left-handed reliever Steven Okert to Triple-A Sacramento.
With Okert in the minors, the Giants will be carrying just 12 pitchers and only one left-handed reliever on their roster.
Bochy said the team prioritized having depth in the batting order and the infield over the bullpen.
"We're OK in the bullpen right now," he said. "We just felt like (Hill) gives us a little more depth at this point."
Hill, who missed 30 games with a right forearm strain, will provide flexibility with his ability to move around the infield and even plug a hole in the outfield, where he logged 221/3 innings earlier in the season.
